The Bearcats are a senior lead team, so they feel they can overcome the pressure of being in the tournament.

They'll also have to figure out a way to shut down junior forward Nikkia Smith, who averaged 20 points in the two meetings this season.

"Just be physical with her, not make it easy for her because if she catches the ball in the paint, its kind of easy for her to shoot over because she's very athletic and has really good footwork and good balance so just try to push her out early," says senior forward Viive Rebane.

"I don't think a player like that you can completely take away but again, we're going to try and make things tough for her and try to make sure everytime she's cutting, everytime she's moving, she has a body on her and be a little physical with her. I think you're going to see us mix things up between man and zone just to give her some different looks," says head coach Nicole Scholl.

The Bearcats and Hawks will square off in the final game on Friday night.

It's expected to start at 8:15.

The Bearcats are 0 and 2 against the Hawks in the America East tournament, losing in the semifinals in 2006 and 2007.